


Lincoln's Terrible Interview

by HurricaneJane



Series: Quality Ingredients One Shots [6]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:07:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26526439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HurricaneJane/pseuds/HurricaneJane
Summary: The Ask:If you're still open to QI one shot prompts, I've always been curious about the story Lincoln tells about his allegedly disastrous interview with Lexa LOL I mean, she still hired him and he's clearly good at what he does... What went down during that interview?!?
Series: Quality Ingredients One Shots [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589668
Kudos: 78





	Lincoln's Terrible Interview

It was the most important interview of his life and Lincoln caught a cold from his roommate’s girlfriend and couldn’t stop sniffling. Lexa “The Commander” Local Zillionare Restauranter Extreme Woods was interviewing for front of house staff in Portland and he received a call back from her personally for a bar manager position.

He kept the voicemail.

Even if he didn’t get the job, having the real live proof from someone so talented and important even considering hiring him was just too cool.

Lincoln walked to the future spot’s location on Congress Street. It was October and it was a gray, cold, wet day. He didn’t want to run the risk of being late because he couldn’t find a parking spot, so he opted to walk in the raw mist. It was the last thing he needed with the cold brewing in his body, but he was too excited by the opportunity to let it get him down. He carried a padfolio of his references, experience and recipes, as requested, and hurried along the sidewalk.

As Lincoln was mentally running over some of the answers to questions he guessed were coming, the father in a family of tourists slammed into him.

“Hey! Watch out!” Lincoln yelped. His whole career rained down in neat little sheets of paper all around him onto the damp sidewalk. The shouting brought on a fit of coughs.

“Sorry!” The tourists laughed and carried on.

“Son of a bitch!” Lincoln scowled. Everything was wet. All of the pages were dirty. His recipes had child-sized sneaker prints all over them. He sneezed a few times as he tried to organize them. 

He knew that any bartender worth their salt in town was vying to get a spot on Lexa’s staff. He knew the competition would be extreme. He had held a few high-profile positions on bars around town. He could do fine dining. He could do casual. He could do tourist friendly cliché Maine. He had even spent a summer working intense volume at some of the college party bars down on the water that served drinks in plastic buckets with curly straws under black lights.

The front of the future space had paper taped all over the windows. He was excited about the interview if only to see a Woods Restaurant Group space before it was perfectly polished. It was a rare chance to see anything Lexa Woods was part of before every single detail had been revised, reviewed and released with intention.

“Hello,” Lexa Woods herself unlocked the door and let him in. He tried not to panic at the sight of the absolute mogul before him in jeans and a casual sweater with her hair pulled back.

“Hi,” Lincoln grinned involuntarily. 

“You must be Lincoln,” Lexa said as she glanced at her watch.

“Yes,” he replied and extended a hand. She took it and shook it.

“I’m Lexa,” she spoke so calmly and evenly. “It’s nice to meet you. Please, come have a seat over-“

Lincoln yanked his hand back quickly to let fly a sneeze into the crook of his elbow.

“Here,” Lexa finished apprehensively and gestured towards a folding table and chairs amidst the construction site of a dining room. “Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah,” Lincoln sniffled as he lied. “I’m fine.”

“My head chef is in another interview in the kitchen right now, so it will be just the two of us,” Lexa eyed him as he pulled himself together and followed her. “I appreciate you coming in today.”

“It’s an honor. I appreciate the opportunity,” Lincoln smiled genuinely. He tried to discretely clear his throat, but the rattling phlegm gave him away.

Lexa had a Mac Book and several neat sets of documents all over the table. Lincoln caught a glimpse of his face on her computer screen and swallowed past the lump in his sore throat wondering how deep she’d been digging.

“I did some research on you and the locations you listed on your resume,” Lexa jumped right in. “Very impressive work.”

“Thank you,” Lincoln nodded.

“We’re building something much more classic here. We’re aiming to do simple and clean while complex and elevated. Emphasis on tradition, process and quality-“

Lincoln sneezed rapidly three times.

“Ingredients,” Lexa paused. “Bless you.”

“Thank you. I’m so sorry. This came on suddenly,” Lincoln sighed. 

“Excuse me for a moment,” Lexa got up from the table and walked behind a few half-finished walls into the kitchen.

“Jesus Christ,” Lincoln muttered to himself. He rubbed his eyes and tried to psych himself up.

“Does that environment sound like something you’d like to be a part of?” Lexa returned with a glass of water, a roll of toilet paper and a bottle of hand sanitizer. She set the water and the toilet paper in front of Lincoln who just stared down at it.

Lexa Woods just got him a glass of water and some makeshift tissues.

“Thank you,” he gestured at the offerings. “It’s the direction I’ve been going with my own recipes for a while now,” Lincoln nodded as he took a sip of water to ease his scratchy voice.

“Of course,” Lexa nodded once. “Did you bring your recipes with you?” Lexa was unable to hide her wince as she took in his mud-spattered portfolio.

The grimace was too much for Lincoln to bear. 

“Look, Chef Woods,” he sighed. “I’m really sorry.”

“For what?” Lexa cocked her head at him.

“For being a fucking mess,” Lincoln threw his hands up.

Lexa didn’t respond right away, and Lincoln couldn’t help but fill the silence.

“I’ve been staging at different and higher end spots every second that I haven’t been working at my bar. I’ve been barely sleeping, just reading and studying and working and testing ever since I got your call. I want to work for you so badly, more than I’ve wanted anything. I’ve pushed myself like crazy to get ready to meet you and my stupid roommate’s girlfriend gave me this shitty cold, and I’m blowing what is easily the biggest opportunity I’ve ever had. I’m just so sorry to have wasted your time,” Lincoln punctuated his over share with four sneezes in a row, followed by coughs.

Lexa still didn’t say anything. Lincoln reached for the toilet paper and blew his nose. It sounded outrageously loud in the empty room.

“Did you bring your recipes?” Lexa finally asked.

Lincoln, wondering if this was some kind of trick, just pushed the muddy folder forward.

“A family of tourists smashed into me on the sidewalk and then ran my work through a puddle outside,” Lincoln sighed. “But yes. I brought them.”

Lexa took the filthy folder and carefully opened it. All of the sheets inside were splattered with the telltale gray of city sidewalk water. There were partial footprints on most of them, and he hadn’t put them all back in the folder right side up.

Lincoln sat in agonizing silence as Lexa paged through.

“Your use of velvet falernum and honey dew is interesting in this blended drink,” Lexa took one of the sheets out and passed it to him. 

“Thank you,” Lincoln replied with confused eyebrows.

“I like all of these fall daquiris,” Lexa handed him another sheet. “Do you forage for the pinecones and the elderberries in these liqueur infusions?” she turned a few more pages right side up. “Or do you have a supplier?”

“I was born and raised up north,” Lincoln grinned. “I’ve got a birch sap spot, too.”

“Willing to share?” Lexa raised a brow.

“Not yet,” Lincoln sneezed into his elbow a few more times. “But maybe someday.”

“Why didn’t you reschedule this interview if you were sick?” Lexa asked after contemplating the rest of the pages in his recipe folder.

“Because I wanted to be here,” Lincoln sniffled and wiped his nose. “More than I’ve wanted anything. I couldn’t risk you seeing that as disinterest and passing on me, and knowing your schedule, there isn’t another time slot.”

“You’re correct. There isn’t,” Lexa slid the folder and all of his dirty recipes back to him. “I’ve seen what I need to see.”

“Thank you for the opportunity,” Lincoln sighed and packed up his mess.

“I’d like to interview you again with my head chef and our other front of house management candidates next week,” Lexa added in a firmer tone.

“Excuse me?” Lincoln snapped his head up to her.

“I already spoke with your references,” Lexa replied. “I’ve been back in town for months now and I’ve been secret shopping for bartenders via word of mouth and dining as guest on their busiest nights. I’ve been in your restaurant and I’ve seen you in action. I’ve heard your name around town in the industry for months.”

“Really?” Lincoln broke into a boyish smile.

“Really,” Lexa almost smiled back. “I appreciate your dedication and your respect of my time. I’ve seen you in the weeds, and you carried yourself and your staff with grace. I like your care and attention to detail in your recipes, but please get the hell out of here and do not touch or breathe on anything else in my restaurant until you feel better.”

“Thank you so much!” Lincoln beamed.

“Hold your hands out,” Lexa instructed. He didn’t hesitate. She squirted the hand sanitizer into his palms. “I’m going to get the door for you, and I want you to cool it with the stages and the studying and get some rest so we can actually speak productively next week.”

“You got it, Chef,” he smiled sincerely. “Thank you again. So much. This means the world to me.”

“One more thing before you go,” Lexa snapped the rings open on one of the three ring binders on the table and took her papers out. She handed it to Lincoln. “Those recipes are valuable. You need a more secure way to travel with them.”

“Thank you,” he took the binder gently. Lincoln wasn’t totally convinced any of this was real. She ushered him out of the restaurant and let him know she’d call to confirm a time for their next meeting.

“What the hell was that, Commander?” Indra appeared from the kitchen behind her. 

“What the hell was what?” Lexa asked innocently.

“That kid was a total wreck and you were awfully kind to him,” Indra chuckled. “you feeling okay?”

“I don’t know,” Lexa shrugged. “He’s my favorite candidate. There’s something about him I like. I’ve had my eye on him for a while and that was clearly not him at his best.”

“You getting a little soft in your old age, Chef?” Indra joked. 

“I’m hoping to make some changes with this new place,” Lexa smiled softly. “Maybe I’ll finally turn things around if I start giving some people the second chances I always needed.”


End file.
